Praise for the previous edition:

"Wyatt knows his subject well enough and has enough enthusiasm for it to make his book . . . entertaining as well as eminently educational."--David McElveen, Asiaweek

"A very readable account. . . .We come away from reading it with a clearer understanding of...

For seven centuries, Chiang Mai has been the center of a lively culture and civilization in the hills of what is now northern Thailand. ?The Chiang Mai Chronicle, ? one of the most important histories of the region, was written in 1827 to explain the growth and strength of the Kingdom of Lan Na which Chiang Mai dominated, and to foresee a glorious future after a generation of warfare. This translation of ?The Chiang Mai Chronicle? was prepared from a palm-leaf manuscript. Extensive indexes and annotations have been added, and maps have been drawn especially for this...

This slim volume takes the reader on a fascinating stroll through Thailand's intellectual history -- the thoughts of the people of Siam, and the products of their thought, through history. It is a series of informal sketches, gleaned over years of historical research and stored away for rumination and reflection by one of the foremost historians of Thailand. Wyatt muses about these pieces of history, revealing some of the creative thinking that has been going on in the minds of ordinary and nameless people as well as great and well-known thinkers in Siam for the past thirteen hundred...

G. J. Younghusband (1859-1944) came from a family with deep roots in the Indian army and colonial service tradition. After school at Sandhurst, the young lieutenant was sent on what was no less than a spying mission in 1888 to find out the most accessible route through Siamese territory to the disputed Shan State of Keng Tung. The area was a hodgepodge of intrigue with Britain, Siam, Lan Na, the French, and of course the Shans vying for position and power. He describes in this book the land through which he passes and the characters whom he meets, and hints at the machinations of other...

The most detailed, fascinating, and lively account of old Siam was written by the Dutch merchant Jeremias Van Vliet between 1636 and 1640. This volume includes all four of his writings in English translation: the earliest surviving chronicle of Siam's history; a wide-ranging description of the kingdom's geography, economy, society, politics, and religion; a blow-by-blow account of a bloody power struggle over the crown; and the Dutchman's diary during a crisis -- the Picnic Incident -- published here for the first time. The editors add new details on Van Vliet's life, the Dutch community,...